The Indiana cross country teams are set to host their second meet of the season on Sat., Oct. 17. The running of the Sam Bell Invitational renews a traditional IU cross country meet that has not been contested since the 2000 season. Legendary IU coach Sam Bell led the Hoosiers to new heights and coached numerous IU legends, including Bob Kennedy, Kim Betz and Michelle Dekkers, to NCAA titles in cross country. Bell will be on hand to help distribute awards at the conclusion of the meet. The meet will kickoff at 11 a.m. ET, when the women's race is schedule to start. The men's race will begin at 11:45.

LAST TIME OUT
The Indiana men's cross country team took the team crown at the Paul Short Run, outrunning two ranked teams in the process. Redshirt freshman Andy Bayer set the pace for the Hoosiers, finishing in third place. He was one of four Hoosiers to place in the top 10, and the fifth IU runner to cross the line, Andy Weatherford took 21st and was only 27 seconds off the winner. The Hoosiers finished with 44 points, No. 7 Iona finished second with 55 points and No. 19 North Carolina State was third with 87 points.

Bayer was third in 23:42 and he was followed in by Andrew Poore in sixth (23:46), Zach Mayhew in seventh (23:49), and Cole Hardacre in eighth (23:50). Weatherford finished in 24:07. Bayer's time was just two seconds out of first place, and it ties him for fifth all-time on the Goodman Campus Course at Lehigh.

The women's team took third, paced by Wendi Robinson, who finished fourth in 20:04. She was one of three Hoosiers to finish in the top 20. Junior Sarah Pease was 12th in 20:30 and sophomore Chelsea Blanchard took 19th in 20:51. Robinson's time ties her for the 10th fastest in the course's history.

HOOSIERS ENTER RANKINGS, WIN AWARDS
The Indiana men's cross country team hadn't received a single vote in the first two weeks of the USTFCCCA coaches poll, but that all changed when the Hoosiers defeated two ranked teams at the Paul Short Run on Oct. 2. The Hoosiers are ranked 17th in the USTFCCCA national rankings that were released today. The announcement comes on the heels of two Hoosiers being honored as Big Ten Runners of the Week. The Hoosier women received votes in the poll for the third consecutive week.

Both Wendi Robinson and Andy Bayer earned the Big Ten Runner of the Week honors for the first time in their careers. It is the third award this season for the men's team, as the team has earned the honor after each meet of the season thus far. Jessica Gall and Sean Jefferson were both honored on Sept. 21, 2004, which is the only other time both teams had an honoree in the same week since the Big Ten started the weekly honors.

Bayer paced Indiana to a team title at the Paul Short Run last week, crossing the tape in 23:42, just two seconds behind the event's frontrunner. One of four Hoosiers to finish in the top 20, Bayer led an Indiana squad that defeated 2008 NCAA runner-up and No. 7-ranked Iona and a North Carolina State team that is ranked No. 19 in the latest USTFCCCA poll. Bayer is the third Hoosier to win the award in three meets on the season.

Robinson led the women's cross country team to a top-three finish at the Paul Short Run, as the Hoosiers finished third, behind only fourth-ranked West Virginia and the top team in Canada, Guelph. The Danville, Ind., native turned in a fourth-place finish, leading a trio of Hoosiers among the top 20.